CDRT

CENTRE FOR DISABILITY RESEARCH AND TRAINING

Vision: Labels are for jars, not people!

BRIEF ABOUT THE CENTER...

Disability Studies today is a rapidly emerging interdisciplinary field of academic inquiry, rich with untapped research possibilities. These research possibilities need to be comprehensively explored and adequately conceptualized, if we are to move towards achieving the cherished goal of establishing a truly inclusive society.

With the above in mind, Kirori Mal College, in June 2021, established the Centre for disability Research and Training (CDRT). Perhaps, the first Centre of its kind in a college in India, the prime objective of CDRT is to promote and popularize disability studies within the Indian academia. In the pursuit of the above goal, the Centre has organized a wide range of academic activities, from faculty development programs and certificate courses to international conferences and webinars on disability studies. In the process, the Centre has enabled both students and faculty across the country to interact closely with internationally renowned scholars in the field like Lennard J. Davis, Tom Shakespeare, Nicholas Watson, Dan Goodley, Margrit Shildrick, Stephan Kuusisto, Eva Feder Kittay, Anne Waldschmidt, Fiona Kumari Campbell, Anita Ghazi, Amita Dhanda, Renu Addlakha, Shilpa Das, and Others.

The Centre also aims to broaden the knowledge base of disability studies within the Indian context by encouraging committed research in that area. We actively encourage undergraduate students to engage with disability research under the expert mentorship of renown disability studies scholars. The Centre in fact strives to function as a nodal institutional site to produce, systemize and disseminate academic knowledge about disability. We engage with all aspects of disability experience ranging from the sociology of the phenomenon, its representations in literature and culture, disability politics and policies, disability law and human rights, to accessibility and universal design, inclusion and education, capacity building and skill development, professional training and employment.

In addition to fostering academic interest in disability studies, the Centre also organizes a number of sensitization workshops and community awareness campaigns on disability with the intention of creating an egalitarian society that appreciates the abilities of persons with disabilities, and willingly provides equal opportunities for all.

But above all, its goal is to create an inclusive teaching and learning atmosphere on campus and foster a level-playing field for students with disabilities so that they could realize the fullness of their potential and become significant contributors in India’s growth story.

We strive to profile the students with disabilities in college, identify their specific needs and provide them with customized solutions and support services to maximize their potential. These services include counsellor services, providing them with reasonable accommodation and accessible content, promoting understanding about assistive technology and its myriad possibilities, conducting skill-enhancement and capacity building programs, and offering professional career counselling. The Centre, thus, aims to empower the disabled community through the creation of multiple opportunities and platforms for their sustainable socio-economic, academic and professional upliftment.

OBJECTIVES

To Promote and Popularise disability studies as a legitimate field of intellectual enquiry within the Indian academia, particularly among undergraduate and postgraduate students from across the country.
To broaden the knowledge base of the discipline through committed research. 3. To use disability studies as a stratagem to foster inclusion.
To use disability studies as a stratagem to foster inclusion.
To spread awareness about disability within the campus and beyond and develop a culture of disability ally ship in society.
To create a level playing field for students with disability on campus and provide them with a wholesome inclusive educational experience.
To assist other colleges and universities to set up similar centres within their institutions.

FACULTY COMMITTEE 2022-23

RESEARCH ADVISORY BOARD

ADVISORY COUNCIL - INCLUSIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMME (IEP)

CDRT ACTIVITY RECORD

INCLUSIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMME

India accounts for over 26 million persons with disabilities (Census, 2011) of which 44.97% are those in the age group of 0-29 that need educational services. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act (2016) has upheld the rights of education to all and also mandated a 5% reservation for students with disabilities. However, the reality of the ground is far from making inclusive education a reality.

Lack of awareness about lives of persons with disabilities, inadequate infrastructure for making education inclusive and absence of inclusive education training within our teacher trainings curriculums have been some of the reasons that whilst students with disabilities are reaching campuses, their education is not yet inclusive.

Kirori Mal College is known for its egalitarian ethos and inclusive pedagogical practice. At present there are 87 students with disabilities across the various departments in the college and the college is committed to providing its students with disability a wholesome, inclusive educational experience. For this purpose, it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with XRCVC (Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged, St. Xavier’s College, Versova, Mumbai) and SAKSHAM – both leading names in the area. While with the former it has entered into a collaboration for the Shamil project, with the latter it has organised Aarohan.

Shamil

In August 2021, the Centre for Disability Research and Training, Kirori Mal College, in collaboration with Xavier’s Resource Centre for the Visually Challenged (XRCVC), launched Project Shamil, which stands for – Services Harnessing Accessibility Models to Inclusive Learning. This project focusses on a model of the 360-degree approach to inclusion, involving various initiatives for both disabled students and faculty, working towards building an accessible and inclusive environment across the campus.

The project aims to function on broad categories of services such as Examination Support which involves assistance to disabled students during examinations, Academic Support both within and outside classrooms, involving assistance in taking notes or recording in classes or general mentorship and soft skill training after classes. Moreover, it seeks to provide various formats of accessible content customised to the students’ needs along with making the campus life as accessible for the disabled students as possible, be it in classrooms/hostel rooms or sports grounds and other recreational activities. Ultimately, Shamil is an initiative to provide disabled students with a truly inclusive atmosphere in college, covering both academic and social facets of higher education.

More details about the Shamil here.

Aarohan

In September 2021, the Centre for Disability Research and Training, Kirori Mal College, in collaboration with Saksham, launched Project Aarohan – an initiative towards creating opportunities for inclusion of students with Blindness and Low Vision in Higher Education. The objective of this project is to create a level playing field for these students by providing them with reasonable accommodation based on their need-assessment. In pursuit of the above goal, we profile the students with blindness or low vision in college, identify their specific needs and provide them with customized solutions and support services to maximize their potential. Under this project, assistive devices such as Laptops, Electronic (Refreshable) Braille Display, Daisy Players (digital recorders) and Tablets have been distributed to the visually impaired undergraduate students of the college. Besides spreading awareness about and equipping the students with assistive technology, Project Aarohan seeks to conduct sensitization workshops for students and faculty alike. To prepare disabled students for employability, it aims to offer career counselling and mentoring sessions, provide accessible and tactile academic material, organise training sessions on software for STEM subjects and suggest infrastructural modifications in college. The project thus aims to create an inclusive teaching and learning atmosphere in campus and empower these students by providing them with platforms for their sustainable socio-economic, academic and professional upliftment, so that they can become significant contributors in India’s growth story.

More details about the program here.

Both these projects have been rolled out by the Centre for Disability Research and Training and implemented through Prayas- the Enabling Unit of the college and its over 75 committed volunteers. CDRT and Prayas together are in fact breaking the ableist divide by interrogating the hegemony of normalcy and empowering people with disability on campus thereby, making Kirori Mal College a true exemplar of inclusive education.